Trump's hotel could be forced out of DC building over 'breach of lease'

Updated
Trump International Hotel in Washington DC.
Trump International Hotel in Washington DC.


President Trump is in violation of his lease to run his luxury hotel in Washington DC, according to a watchdog group.

The Trump International Hotel is set within Washington's Old Post Office building, which is owned by the federal government.

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Donald Trump's agreement with the General Services Administration (GSA) states that the lease cannot be held by an elected official.

Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the General Services Administration on Friday, saying that the 45th president of the United States is in violation of the lease.

CREW argues that the GSA needs to immediately inform Old Post Office LLC, the Trump company that holds the lease, that it is in breach of the agreement.

The Huffington Post reports that this could lead to the termination of the lease and the removal of the Trump's hotel from the building.

In his letter to the GSA, CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said: "The potential conflicts of interest with regard to President Trump's company's lease of the Old Post Office Building are serious and real.

"President Trump now both owns the lessee, Old Post Office LLC, and controls the lessor, GSA, whose administrator is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the president."

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said: "We'll know Monday, because that's when they go back to work.

"In other words, the moment he was sworn in, he breached the lease. Because you can't be an elected official. So GSA is supposed to make some kind of determination on Monday."

Trump's company was selected to open a hotel in the building following open bidding in 2013.

The lease states: "No member or delegate to Congress, or elected official of the Government of the United States or the Government of the District of Columbia, shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom."

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